622 secondary schools to be upgraded, says minister

LAHORE

Punjab School Education Minister Rana Mashhood has said the Punjab government has decided to upgrade 622 secondary schools to the level of higher secondary schools. He said subject of technical education would be introduced in these upgraded schools. 

The minister said this while chairing a meeting of a committee formed in this regard by Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif. Ministers Malik Nadeem Kamran, Mansha Ullah Butt, Secretary Schools Education Dr Allah Bakhsh Malik and others attended the meeting.

The meeting discussed different aspects pertaining to upgrade of 622 high schools to the level of higher education and observed that this innovative plan would benefit the students in a number of ways.

Rana Mashhood said the purpose of this programme was to provide market oriented education to the youth so that children of low-income families could earn their livelihood in an honourable way. “This programme is part of educational vision of the Punjab government to provide quality education so that students could excel through the ladder of education,” he added. This programme would equally benefit the girls who would learn beneficial technical and vocational courses to provide economic support to their families, he concluded.

UVAS budget: The Syndicate of University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS) approved Rs3.81 billion budget for the financial year 2017-18. This was Rs50.57 million deficit budget.

An amount of Rs2.33 billion has been allocated for development projects. Of the total development allocation, Rs1.84 billion will be spent on ongoing projects while Rs490 million on new projects to be initiated in the financial year 2017-18.

The meeting was chaired by UVAS Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Talat Naseer Pasha who told the meeting that work on National Livestock Technology Park at Ravi Campus Pattoki would begin this year for which Rs150 million have been allocated. 

Among the ongoing projects, the VC said Rs200 million had been allocated for “Enhancement of research facilities at Ravi Campus, Pattoki”, Rs1.23 billion for University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Bahawalpur, Rs53.63 million for Para-Veterinary School at Narowal, Rs159.55 million for “New academic block, students hostels and apartments for faculty” at City Campus, Rs113.41 million for training centre for biologics at Ravi Campus, Pattoki, Rs28.75 million for developing ostrich farming in Punjab, Rs22.03 million on propagation of ducks rearing and Rs30.29 million for development of camel milk value chain by adopting modern supply chain mechanism for enhancing farmers profitability in Punjab.” 

Earlier, presenting the budget before the Syndicate, treasurer Dr Zubair Farooq said the university expected non-development income of Rs1.43 billion from different sources during the year while non-development expenditure was expected at Rs1.48 billion, so there was a deficit of Rs50.57 million.  

The VC said Rs692.46 million were expected to be generated by the university from its own sources and added there would be no increase in fees during the financial year.